This Week in Mobile: Latest in Social Media News

This Week in Mobile brings you the latest news about everything mobile every week. Check back every Monday at 1 pm to get a roundup of the latest news about technology, app development and more, curated for you.

This week’s theme is social media. And fortunately it’s mostly all positive! It’s always nice to see Facebook making headlines for its innovations rather than its privacy intrusion. Instead it’s Twitter who’s under fire for privacy concerns – regardless of how much merit the lawsuit has. Its business as usual for the Big Two.

The game-changer of the week goes to Snapchat for its unexpected addition of replayable snaps – but before you get too excited, it’s going to cost you. Going against their original mission of self-destructing messages, curious to see how replayable snaps are viewed by its rabid userbase.

Now, time to get you caught up!

Facebook News

After years of asking, Facebook is finally making it happen; and very soon too. During a public Q&A last Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook have developed a ‘Dislike’ button that will be shipped for testing very soon.

While specifics of the button are scarce, Zuckerberg expressed the button will act as a way to convey empathy rather than explicitly ‘dislike’ something.

“We don’t want to turn Facebook into a forum where people are voting up or down on people’s posts,” Zuckerberg said. “That doesn’t seem like the kind of community that we want to create: you don’t want to go through the process of sharing some moment that was important to you in your day and have someone downvote it.”

• Facebook May Be Working on a Virtual Reality App
Since Facebook’s ground-breaking purchase of Oculus VR last year, we haven’t heard much news from Facebook about their plans for virtual reality. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is developing a mobile app for viewing virtual reality videos.

These virtual reality videos are filmed in 360 degrees and usually with a multi-camera setup, allowing viewers achieve a higher sense of immersion by having the ability to look around the video’s world as it plays

The app is still in early stages of development, so it may be a while before we get official confirmation.

Twitter News

• Donate to Politicians Directly through a Tweet
Twitter has partnered with Square Cash to make it easier for users to send donations to their favourite politicians. By clicking the “contribute” button through a Tweet, users can easily send over a monetary donation of their choosing.

“This is the fastest, easiest way to make an online donation, and the most effective way for campaigns to execute tailored digital fundraising, in real time, on the platform where Americans are already talking about the 2016 election and the issues they are passionate about,” Twitter said in a blog post.

• Twitter is Being Sued for Scanning Direct Messages
Maybe you should think twice before sliding into someone’s DM. Twitter is facing a new proposed class action accusing the company of violating user privacy. The lawsuit states Twitter has been “systematically intercepting, reading, and altering” direct messages, most likely referencing Twitter’s practice of automatically shortening and redirecting any in-message links.

In a statement to USA Today, Twitter called the allegations “meritless.” Google faced a similar lawsuit last year over its ad-serving mechanism in Gmail, although the company settled before a meaningful precedent could be set.

Snapchat News

So much for self-destructing messages. For $0.99 Snapchat users can now purchase a three-pack of replays that can be used once per Snap. Unlike Snapchat Stories, this in-app purchase will be used for the direct, once one-time viewed snaps that launched Snapchats success.

Replayable Snaps are now the third revenue stream for Snapchat, with the addition of its Discover partnerships and Sponsored Snapchat Stories earlier this year.

Do you think Twitter is violating your privacy? Would you pay $0.99 to replay some SnapChats? Sound off in the comments and let us know your opinions.

Check back next Monday at 1 pm for the latest tech news curated for you.